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Sunday, 23 December 2012

Candied Pecans

Christmas is coming! Whose already watched Home Alone? I have. Last night. Bless little Kevin.After my reunion with warm, spicy candied nuts (of all kinds) at Winter Wonderland in London a couple of weeks ago, you guessed it, I was obsessed. I would spend long nights lulling over their sweet deliciousness, the way you would bite into each nut to find this textured and salty surprise. The way that would happen and it not actually be a factory made M&M, was beyond me. Then I came across Smitten Kitchen's Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts. Have you ever done that thing where you've eaten something really good then googled it straight away? The photos inspired me, the paprika...not so much, that belongs on chicken. So it came around to my birthday and seeing as its not permitted to bake your own birthday cake, nuts had to suffice. Don't be surprised at how ridiculously simple pecans, or any nut for that matter, is to candy. It. Is. So. Bloody. Easy. To top it off - helllooooo homemade-gifts-for-Christmas-o'clock! Doesn't get much better really, and they will bring your 'giftees' right back to the fireplace and/or Deptford market.

Candied cinnamon-spiced pecans

Ingredients

300g pecans,

150g caster sugar

1 egg white

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 C / 180 F and line a baking sheet with foil or baking parchment. Whisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water until frothy and bubbly, but not completely stiff. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla then add the pecans and mix until all of the the pecans are evenly covered in the mixture.

Spread the pecans in an even layer on the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, stirring half way through. Leave to cool on the tray and then serve. Lasts for 1-2 weeks at room temperature if stored in an airtight jar or container.

A 300g packet was a large bag I bought from the supermarket, I'd say it's enough to fill three cellophane bags, which I think would look lovely wrapped in ribbon! Also, oven temp is 180 degrees celsius, gas mark 4 :)

Just tried this and its one of the rare things that I've ever cooked that has been a complete disaster. After 15 mins at gas 4 the pecans were surrounded by gooey mess & not remotely crispy. By the time they were crispy they were totally cremated and inedible. The few that weren't almost black, stuck hard & were covered in bits of foil when I tried to peel them away. Whole lot gone in the bin. Other recipes on web seem to use twice as much sugar to 1 egg white and are baked longer at a lower temp. :-(

I have just spotted a mistake in the recipe, I never stated that it's 180 C Fan oven, did you use a fan assisted oven?

I'm really sorry again and hope we can talk about the recipe further to see what went wrong on my part - how many pecans did you use? The pecans should be coated, but not drenched in the egg white mixture.

They'll keep in a jar at room temperature for 1 or 2 weeks. I wouldn't risk much longer as they're made with egg whites...but obviously they are cooked so I doubt you'd be putting anyone at risk/ my bet is they would taste fine beyond 2 weeks!

Hi, I found that I get a more even coating of sugar if I mix the foamy egg white with the sugar, cinnamon and salt and then add the pecans, stir, and spread in a single layer on a baking tray. Also, I stir half way through just to make sure all the pecans crystallise on both sides in the oven. You could sprinkle the sugar on top of the egg white coated pecans after dispensing onto the baking tray but I fear that some bits of the pecans wouldn't have all that lovely crystallised sugar going on all around them!